Amy was talking at skating on Sunday about ginger snaps.  She got me craving them so I went to my go to recipe in the Joy of Cooking.  The only problem with that recipe is that it makes 10 dozen.  10 dozen if you make them rather large.  I always think that is too many cookies so I cut it in half.  And roll the cookies in sugar like they were molasses crinckles.  The recipe actually suggests to frost them but I cannot see that.

ginger snap

Note:  From the Joy of Cooking, 1981 (yes, year matters with this cookbook)

6 tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar 

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

Sugar for dredging

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl.  Add molasses, egg, and vinegar.  Beat well.  Mix in the dry ingredients.  

Roll small teaspoons of dough into balls.  Dredge in sugar.  Place on a baking sheet covered with a silpat or parchment paper.  

Bake 12 minutes

Very yummy.  Similar to a molasses crinckle but more ginger.

And Small Mister likes them.  He likes the size too.

I saw this on a blog where the writer had cut off the bottom of a romaine lettuce head and grew another head of lettuce from it.  Just what had been purchased from the grocery store.  Nothing special about that head of lettuce.  I was making coleslaw and thought, what the heck, I will try it with this pretty purple cabbage I was using.  So I cut off about an inch of the end that had been closest to the roots.  Where they had cut it from the plant.  I then put it in a shallow dish of water.  I have made sure there is always water.

I have cabbages growing!  They look like three tiny brussell sprouts right now.  This is so exciting.  When the plant seem much more established and I can see roots, I will plant it in my garden.  I am going to do this much more often.  It definitely makes me smile.

By the way, ink is in but not the paper.  More waiting going on.

The excitement today is a working computer and photopolymer plates ordered for printing.  The ink and paper are ordered too so life is pretty exciting.  I do admit that I hope to have some time without Small Mister to do some printing because it will be my first time doing this without guidance.  He also really likes to help with my letterpress.  Whether we are actually printing or not.  That could just be much too interesting!

I have variations of this tree ordered.  Something for my Beloved, my Mom, and two things for my Sister.  The only one missing is my best friend and by the time she makes decisions, I will probably have more to order.

Life is most interesting.

We have a computer back.  But not all my pictures.  I will figure this out as I go but blogging might be interesting for the next couple of days.

Over Mother's Day weekend, I wanted to go camping.  So my boys and I went.  The Tall Short Person had to work.  We found a small little state park about 2 hours away.  It was very quiet and kind of strange but we had a good time.  I could not have asked for more.

I have been working on letterpress business cards for family lately.  There is not much to take pictures of because i am sending proofs back and forth, having people decide on paper colors, and ink colors.  But I got to order ink and paper today.  I am downloading Adobe Illustrator (for the how manyeth time?) so I can do one more mock up.  Then I am ordering plates.  The paper is already on its way.

I will get to print next week.  Life is pretty exciting.  Or maybe I just like simple things.

This has been on my board.  Then the please was added.  Pecan Pie :).  PLEASE.  With a please that big, what can you do?  Even if it is April?

I had never made on before so I found  a recipe for a pecan tart by a baker I trust.  I changed it to pie.  I took a suggestion from another cookbook author and prebaked the crust.  That seemed to help a lot.  Since  I was making the cassoulet at the same time, I used my little convection oven.  I was surprised how well it worked.  

So now I have a pecan pie recipe.  I might try others but this is quite good.  It got the seal of approval from the Tall Short Person who was the one who put PLEASE on the board.

pecan pie

1 cup flour

8 tablespoons butter

a pinch of salt

2 tablespoons water

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

2/3 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons very good scotch

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, put 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt.  Mix.  Cut in the butter until it resembles coarse corn meal.  Sprinkle with two tablespoons water and mix together.  It should come together in a ball.  Especially if you press a bit.  If not, add another tablespoon of water.

On a floured surface.  Turn out the dough.  Bring together and knead three times (I am not kidding, less is more).  Roll out into a circle.  It will be less then a 1/4" thick and a bit fragile.  Fold it into quarters and transfer to a pie pan.  I had a 9" pie pan.  Spread out the dough.  Patch any holes.  Cut off the over hang on the edge (make pie crust cookies) and flute.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  My day was such that I let my pie crust cool.  Remember, I was also making cassoulet.  I think that was a day I made granola and bread too......  Just a normal Sunday.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients together but the pecans.  Place the pecans in the pie crust and spread evenly around.  Pour the custard mixture over the pecans.

Put the pie in the oven.  Bake about 40 minutes.

The pie will be puffed and brown when it come out of the oven.  Maybe even bubbly.  Let cool so it will hold together when you cut it.  If you do not, it is not like I did not warn you.

The Tall Short Person was very happy with this.

This is such a horrible picture of the cassoulet but I think it gives the impression of how fast this was served and eaten.  I think the smell alone started to drive my family crazy.  This made a lot.  But for how much work it was, that is a good thing.  I am told that I can make this again.  Especially with the mashed sweet potatoes and apples.  There was a pie afterward too.  That is coming.

cassoulet

Note:  adapted from local milk

confit pork shoulder, meat strained from the fat

seasoned white beans

tomato wine sauce

1 pound meaty bacon

duck confit, meat strained from the fat

Dice the bacon.  Cook it until crispy. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large heavy casserole, put a layer of beans.  Sprinkle a layer of bacon.  Sprinkle a layer of pork conift.  Spoon a layer of the wine sauce.  Repeat, ending with layer of beans.  Lay duck legs over the top.  Put in the oven for bake for another hour.

In the original recipe, there was extra stirring, fat, and bread crumbs.  I simplified and this was awful tasty.  I served it with the mashed sweet potatoes and apples.  A small plate went a long way because it was so rich but lovely.

Well worth the work.

My weekend did not turn out as I had hoped.  I ended up in bed on Sunday.  Allergies had swollen my sinuses so bad that I had a migraine.  My teeth hurt.  I am still getting my energy back but I can say today is so much better then yesterday.

This is the last part of the cassoulet.  I would say this tomato wine sauce is good enough to put on pasta or dip bread in but maybe I am just crazy.  

tomato wine sauce

Note:  adapted from local milk

1 28 ounce can whole roasted tomatoes, seeded and chopped, reserving the liquid

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon thyme

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 bay leaf

1 can oil packed anchovies

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 cup white wine 

In a large pot, put the olive oil and heat.  Add the onions.  Let start to brown.  Add the tomatoes.  Let them get started to bubble.  Add the garlic, thyme, bay, anchovies, salt, and paprika.  Let cook and meld and maybe even brown the bottom of the pan a bit.  Add the reserved tomato juice and wine.  Turn down to a simmer and let cook for a bit.  The recipe said until there was 2 cups but I did not cook it down that much.

I also kept this very rustic.  The recipe said to blend it and I did not.  Try it over some pasta.  Really.  You can make this a couple days ahead of time for the cassoulet.